


It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

by plumtrees



Series: MatsuHana Week 2015 [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Established Relationship, Future Fic, Living Together, M/M, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-05
Updated: 2015-08-05
Packaged: 2018-04-13 03:23:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4505835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plumtrees/pseuds/plumtrees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day 3 of MatsuHana Week: Tattoos and Flower Shops</p><p>-</p><p>Hanamaki, cheeks as pink as his hair, says, "I was drunk."</p><p>"Okay?" Matsukawa prompts.</p><p>"And it's way too expensive to laser something this big."</p><p><em>Holy shit</em>. "Okay?"</p><p>"Look, can't we just go with 'I made horrible life decisions in college that are now coming back to haunt me' and move on?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

"Is that a—" Matsukawa's question ends in a low whistle as Oikawa gently rolls up his sleeve, revealing his newly-inked skin. It's a peacock, looking like it had been rendered in watercolor, all transluscent and soft but vivid gradients. Its head stood proudly, backed by a fan of green and blue feathers that wrapped around half of Oikawa's upper arm, ending just at the edge of his shoulder.

"My sis is awesome, isn't she?" Oikawa preens. "I've always known that I wanted her to give me my first tattoo."

"So how many times did you cry in the process of getting this?" Hanamaki asks, sipping on his milkshake.

"He cried through the whole thing." Iwaizumi deadpans, taking another bite from his burger. Oikawa shouts his name indignantly, looking betrayed. Hanamaki snickers.

Matsukawa's lips twitch in a nostalgic little smile. Some things really never change. "Well, congrats on being the first of us to get inked, should we hold a party?"

Suddenly, Oikawa falls silent, staring at him like he'd just said something weird. Beside him, Iwaizumi's eyes have also gone wide, but his gaze slides over to Hanamaki, who'd gone tense beside Matsukawa.

His stare jumps between the three of them, though Hanamaki very pointedly looking away. "What?"

Oikawa raises an eyebrow. " _First_ to get inked?"

"Yeah? Out of the four of us." Matsukawa clarifies, then points at Iwaizumi. "Unless _you_ have one?"

"Oh my god," Oikawa drags a palm down his face and turns to Hanamaki, who still refuses to look at him. "You didn't _tell_ him?"

"Tell me what?" Matsukawa hazards, and Oikawa gasps dramatically. Hanamaki's looking like he's sorely tempted to punch him in the face.

"Hanamaki was the first to get a tattoo. He got it in his first year of college." Iwaizumi says calmly, ruining the momentum Oikawa was probably going for.

Regardless, Matsukawa's head implodes.

-

To be fair, he didn't actually start dating Hanamaki until their senior year of university, and given that they studied in different universities it wasn't like he was wholly updated on every single major life decision he ever made in those years spent apart but a _tattoo_?

"Guys, I think we broke Mattsun."

"This is your fault!"

"Wait how was it _my_ fault? I genuinely thought he _knew_! I mean you've been living together for two months, you'd think he'd have seen you in your birthday suit by now!"

Matsukawa's brain makes a _bzzt!_ sound.

"Wait, why does he have to be _naked_?" Matsukawa asks, then reevaluates his priorities "Why do _you_ know that?"

Oikawa puts his hands up defensively. "Mattsun, I know what you're thinking, and no we did _not_. He just needed someone's help with the aftercare and stuff so he called me!"

"Why _you_?!" he screeches, on the verge of panic.

" _Because my sister is a tattoo artist!_ "

Matsukawa's mouth opens, then closes, then he takes several deep, calming breaths. Hanamaki, cheeks as pink as his hair, mumbles "I was drunk."

"Okay?" Matsukawa prompts.

"And it's way too expensive to laser something this big."

 _Holy shit._ "Okay?"

"Look, can't we just go with the 'I made horrible life decisions in college that are now coming back to haunt me' and move on?"

"But don't you think your boyfriend has the right to know?" Iwaizumi says, one bite away from finishing his burger, looking at them like they're little more than a very annoying sideshow to his lunch. "I mean, I get it, it's probably embarrassing or whatever but if you're going steady he's gonna see it eventually, and if it's all the same to you, I'm not really up for surprises in flagrante delicto."

Hanamaki's gaze shifts apprehensively again and he picks up his milkshake, muttering "later" before taking the straw into his mouth.

Oikawa gives a conspiratorial little grin but it falls from his face when Iwaizumi kicks him under the table.

-

It's a tense walk home. Hanamaki's gaze doesn't leave the pavement and Matsukawa's mind is a mess of possibilities as to _why_ Hanamaki didn't tell him. What if it's the name of an ex? Oh god, what if it's the _face_ of an ex?

"You think too loud, idiot." Hanamaki mutters, glaring at a harmless little pebble that he's kicking along.

"Can you blame me?" Matsukawa throws back, just as darkly. "I kind of just had potentially life-changing news delivered."

'What, how is this gonna change anything?" Hanamaki asks, voice taking a slightly alarmed tone. "So I have a tattoo, what's the big deal?"

"I just don't understand why you kept it a secret." Matsukawa reasons, a little more hurt than he's willing to let on.

"What are you talking about? I didn't exactly keep it secret, you just didn't ask! Besides, it's not even a 'need to know' thing!"

"It's an 'I'd appreciate it if you tell me' thing, especially if it's as big as you make it seem." Matsukawa says, draws back a little when he realizes he'd raised his voice. He turns away with a frustrated huff, rubbing the back of his neck. "Why _didn't_ you tell me?"

"It's not exactly a decision I'm proud of. I told you, I was drunk." Hanamaki recounts exasperatedly, like he isn't sure why they're even arguing. "I kept reminding myself that I'd get rid of it as soon as I saved up enough, but most of the time I forget it's even there."

Matsukawa's eyes narrow slightly. Hanamaki likes to drink every once in a while but isn't the type to imbibe enough to the point of making reckless decisions. 

"Why'd you even get so drunk?" he asks. Hanamaki scuffs his shoes against the pavement, the rock he'd been kicking abandoned just several paces back.

"I was recovering from a breakup, and a really bad semester." he shrugs carelessly, but Matsukawa sees the tension in his shoulders, how heavy his movements actually are. "Not really a shining era in my life."

Matsukawa thinks of the three years where he and Hanamaki didn't have each other, the times where they were both buried under too much work to properly keep in touch. It makes him wonder about what else he'd missed. "That bad, huh?"

"It reminds me of a time in my life when I made a lot of mistakes, it included." Hanamaki says. "I didn't want to see it, so it kind of compounded to me not wanting other people to see it."

Matsukawa nods, understanding. He reaches over and takes Hanamaki's hand, ready to put this to rest, but suddenly Hanamaki stops, meeting his gaze head on for the first time since they left the restaurant.

"But if it's you, I'm okay." he declares, and Matsukawa's eyes go wide.

"You really don't have to—"

"I've always said that I trust you, but I hid something as big as this." he says with a small but beautifully sincere smile, and tightens his grip around Matsukawa's hand. "It's high time I proved I'm not all talk."

-

They cross the threshold of their apartment and Hanamaki takes his hand, tugging him over to the bedroom. Matsukawa settles on the edge of the bed as Hanamaki stands in front of him, fidgeting slightly.

"Just..." Hanamaki flicks his hands, a habit he'd picked up from Oikawa. "promise not to laugh?"

"Okay."

Hanamaki draws the bedroom curtains, dimming the lighting to the barest hints of sunlight that filter through the fabric. He shucks off his shirt on his way back to Matsukawa and he's treated to the sight of Hanamaki's wonderfully sculpted front but there is no hint of a tattoo. To his surprise, Hanamaki turns around and hooks his thumbs into the waistband of his pants and begins to drag them _down_ until Matsukawa sees a peek of dark ink—

"It's a _tramp stamp_?"

Hanamaki stops in his movements and turns to him with a glare. "God, why'd you have to call it that?"

Matsukawa's left to gesture vaguely to the inked skin of his right hip, intricately textured branches with half of a bright green leaf exposed from above his boxers, seemingly extending right down to his ass. "That's what it is!"

Hanamaki huffs and Matsukawa meekly settles back. Hanamaki kicks his pants off then continues to drag his boxers down so slowly that Matsukawa has to remind himself that this is not a strip tease.

The boxers go down and reveal the deep brown, realistically rendered branches curling and twisting artfully across his right cheek, large, veined leaves sprouting at strategic locations. Hanamaki turns to display his side and Matsukawa's mouth goes dry, not at the sight of his cock but the large carnation that decorates the side of his thigh, the bloom's red and pink fading off to Hanamaki's natural skin tone. The outermost petals are long enough to be visible from the front, curled edges delicately framing the sharp lines of Hanamaki's pelvis.

His hands lift without his permission but his eyes flit up to meet Hanamaki's gaze, a silent inquiry. He gives the barest hint of a nod and Matsukawa's fingers gently graze along the edges of the tattoo, the soft skin almost adding to the illusion of the flower's delicacy. Hanamaki gasps as he traces the flower with his fingers first, then follows the same path with his tongue. Hanamaki's knees nearly buckle.

"I take it you like it?" he croaks, keeping his balance with a hand on Matsukawa's head.

"I don't even know why you thought I'd laugh." he mumbles, takes the reddest patch of skin into his mouth and sucks hard. Hanamaki's head jerks back and he muffles a scream with the back of his hand.

"What made you decide on this design?" Matsukawa whispers after, awed at the realism of the piece and the beauty of the deep red against Hanamaki's skin.

Hanamaki blushes and his lips twist nervously. Matsukawa encourages him with his fervent expression, expecting a long, sentimental story but Hanamaki opens his mouth and starts with "Well, the tattoo parlor I went to had a flower shop right next to it..." and Matsukawa's _gone_ , laughing as he falls off the bed.


End file.
